Artificial denture and tooth therefor



Jan. 9, 1923.

' J- L. WILLIAMS. v

ARTIFICIAL DENTURE AND TOOTH THEREFOR.

FILED SEPT. I5, 192].

In entor 4 famesZZw/z iii/flaws M n: 1 WW LL N FILiS $7.

il Hm Patented Jan. 9, 1923.

, re ns? JAMES LEON 'WILLIAMS,OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,-ASSIG1\TOB TO :THE DENTISTS SUPPLY -COMPANY,A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK ARTIFICIAL DENTURE Application filed September To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be" it known that I, Janus Lnox'ivin LIAMS, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New 3 ork,'county of New York,

and State of New York have invented an The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction of artificialt-ooth or facing especially adapted to bridge worlg but also useful in plate work; and which Wlll cover and shield from view the gold or other material of the bridge or plate,

and in bridge work also reduce. the extent of openiug'between the bridge truss and the gums. In plate work, my invention will provide a construction in which the gold or vulcanite of the plate may properly cooptofore been necessary with tapering; aiu'l ovoid types of teeth as ordinarily made.

My invention also comprehends the completed bridge and plate structure employing my improved artificial tapering or ovoid posed in the interdental spaces between the teeth and especially at points below the level. ofthe usual necks of the teeth.

' Natural teeth have three fundamental forms in respect to their exposed surfaces, said forms being designated for convenience as square, tapering (or triangular),

and rounded or ovoid. I are made to conform to these shapes so as to suit the. corresponding facial forms hav- 1ng characteristlc square, tapering and when frontal teeth of these forms are placed ovoid shapes. It, therefore, follows that in the practice of dentalprosthesis, the. attempt to restore the appearance and function of the natural teeth by artificial.

substitutes, makes it desirable to use the special shapes of artificial teeth above referred to in the making up of bridge and plate work for the frontal teeth. However, in adopting these special forms of teeth,

serious difiiculty arose in respect to the use of the triangular and ovoid shapes because,

side by side in bridge or plate work, the

crate with the teeth without extending obj ectionably far down between them as has her'e- 1 Artificial teeth Ann TOOTH rnnnnron.

15, 1921. Serial No. 500,764.

wide interdental spaces are formed in that region of the teeth nearthe gums, while in natural dentures the festoons of the gums largely fill these spaces. On the other hand, when these forms of teeth are employed in artificial dentures, the spaces are not filled and are objectionable, both from the esthetic and the functional consideration. By reason this condition, it has been usual to largely use the square type of tooth for bridge work and metal plate work without regard. to proper requirements for the various forms of faces, because said square form of teeth is most nearly free from the interdentalv spaces; but such teeth were not harmonious with the tapering and ovoid forms of faces and -(:onseopiently' the dentures thus provided did not fulfiil the true requirements. from an esthetic point of view; in other words, the two most beautiful forms of teeth were largely excluded from these styles. of dentures because of this mechanidifficulty. The objection, aside from the large interdental spaces formedbetween the body and'neck portions of adjacent teeth, permitted the gold plate of the bridge or plate work to'be exposed toview and produced dark objectionable effects.

In the present invention I haveovercome the above'recited difficulties by the employ mentof lateral flanges which, with the neck tooth and increasing the width of the tooth inesio-distally at its median portion and well up on each side of the neck, and arranged or formed sufficiently to the rear portion of the tooth that the front formation or shape of the tooth structure stands out in bold relief, according to whether it is of tapering or ovoid form. In this manner, the several frontal teeth, when positioned on the plate or bridge, will have their lateral edges substantially abutting for approximately the whole heightof the tooth, and in that manner shield or hide the metal of the plate or bridge by closing the interdental spaces which would have otherwise been open in the case of the use of. the tapering and OVOlCl'fOIKIOS of teeth. The presence of the flanges or collars are hardly noticeable ciently darkened as to subdue their presence and leave the tapering or ovoid structure of the tooth proper more fully pronounced.

With the above and other objects in view, the nature of which will be more fully understood from the description hereinafter, the invention consists in the novel construc tion of artificial dentures and teeth therefor, as hereinafter more fully described and defined in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: Fig. l is a perspective view illustrating my improved artificial tooth or facing; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the same; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same; Fig. t is a vertical section through the bridge denture embodying my improvements; Fig. 5 is a vertical section through a vulcanite plate with r v improved artificial teeth embodied therein; Fig. 6 is a front view of a portion of a vulcanite plate having my improved teeth embodied therein; Fig. 7 is a front view of a bridge having tapering artificial teeth applied thereto as ordinarily constructed; Fig. 8 is a front view of a similar bridge denture as that shown in F 7, but in which my improved artificial tooth facings are employed i its make up; and Fig. 9 is a general view of a mouth with the lips separated to show the defects of an ordinary bridge denture and which are overcome by my improved teeth. i

The general construction of my improvement, so far as the tooth structure is concerned. will be best understood by reference to Figs. 1, 2,- 3 and 8. wherein'the tooth body is indicated at 2 and, as shown in Fig. 8. is of tapering form, being relatively narrow the top and broad mesio-distally at the bottom or incisorend. Ordinarily, the small upper end of the tooth body is eX- tended in a narrow neck portion, such as indicated at 8 in Fig. 7, but in my improved construction. this middle or neck portion 3 is extended laterally on each side and downward along the body of the tooth proper in the form of wings or flanges 4, which, with the central upper portion, con stitutes an inverted U shaped collar having relatively small thickness bucco-lingually but of great width mesio-distally, so that its total width adjacent to the top of the body proper is approximately equal to the greatest width of the tooth body adjacent to the lower or incisor portion. It will be further seen, by reference to Fi 2, 3 and 4c, that the collar portion 3, 4, is relatively thin as compared to the body part and is located adjacent to the rear surfaces 5 and 6 of the facing or tooth. If desired, the upper part 3 of the collar portion may project slightly forward of the lateral flanges 4:. as is indicatedby the shading in Fig. 6, so that some slight indication of. a neck portion, as distinguished from the lateral portions 4, may

be apparent to the eye though thi" variation may be relatively slight oi omitted altogether, if so desired. Aside from. the general construction of the porcelain of my improved artificial tooth or facing, the same is provided with the usual pins 7 or 7 as the case may be. The pin 7 may be of any suitable construction, such as used in facings, and while I have merely indicated one of these pins, they are usually employed in pairs and vary from round pins to other cross sections and even to flat sheet metal pins, all of which are well known, and I, therefore, do not limit myself in this respect. lVhen my improved facings are intended for use with a gold bridge, a backing plate ll. (F -il), is provided through which the pin 7 extend and said backing plate trimmed to the same outline as the porcelain of the tooth. In the construction of bridges, it is desirable that these backings or plates should be arranged so as to be in e to edge contact with each other for a siderable portion of the vertical right the flat hack surface of the tooth. The backed iiaciugs thus formed, when arranged side by side for use in making of the completed bridge, may then be united by flowing gold solder 12 over the line of contact between the backings of acent facings, and more or less thickly over the backings themselves to unite the pins to the backings and build up the metal of the gold truss or lnidge 10 which is to carry the facings. The gold solder is further built up at the ends adjacent to the collars or bands 13 and provided with the pins 14; to fit to the roots of the canine or other teeth, constituting, in effect crowns therefor, and providing pro jections for the carrying of the bridge as is well known. In the construction ofa similar bridge denture when employing acingz s of the tapering or ovoid form, it

was not possibleto trim the backing plates to conform to the edges of the vporcelain, as there would not he a sufiicient juncture of the backing plates to form a sufficient vertical height of bridge, and consequently it was necessary to trim the backing of gold plate, which might be brought into contact with similar plates on adjacent teeth or facings, and which ;may then be united by the flowing of the gold solder in the ordinary way. A bridge denture made up in this manner is shown in Fig. 7, and it will be seen therefrom that the exposed plates constituting the bridge portions 10, between the interdental spaces. are very pro nounced and produces a decidedly unpleasant appearance when the bridge is seen from the front. Furthermore. a bridge of that character, when affixed in the mouth as shown in 9, provides wide interdental spaces 15 between the necks of the teeth plate at each side to allow overhanging portions i producing whistling sounds when talking.

This is especially the case with people who have short upper lips and greatly, expose the teeth in talking orlaughing. By the special changes in form which I have embodied in the construction of my lmproved artificial teeth or facings, not only is the gold of the bridge completely hidden from view. as will be understood by reference to Fig. 8, but furthermore, the interdental spaces 15 of Fig.7 will be almost entirely eliminated. In a general way, the dotted line of Fig. 8 corresponds to the level of the touching of the bridge, and it will, therefore, be seen that by broadening the neck portions of the teeth into the lateral wings 4, the interdental spaces are largely closed. By proper tinting or shading of these wing portions t of the collar, the tapering configuration 'of'the tooth body 2 is more definitely brought to view, whereas the wings or collar portions are subdued, in effect to still maintain the general white of the tooth structure without being obtrusive.

In the special forms of facings forming the subject matter of this invention, there are essentially three important points secured, and these are: As nearly parallel sides of the fiat back surfaces as possible to permit long edge to edge contact of the supported backings when building up the bridge work, the retention of the characteristic labial forms constituting the tapering and ovoid shapes instead of being forced to use conventional forms which have heretofore resulted from all efforts to get nearly parallel sides to the flat surface to support the backings, and the provision ofthe wing or flange side portions which extend laterally and downwardly from the sides of the neck and constituting a collar ioining the fiat back surface of the facing and also the characteristic labial or front surface (though at a more rearward position), concealing the gold of the bridge and backs ing and presenting natural color in the interdental spaces. These advantages are secured without the loss of form for the tooth even in those cases where the tooth tapers or curves so much that under other conditions the metal backings would lie in edge to edge contact for only a very short distance. In other words, it is possible to make a more nearly continuous truss of the gold backing and yet have all the gold covered by porcelain without loss of the characteristic form of the teeth which would otherwise result in such wide interdental spaces as to make the construction of the bridge impracticable, such for example, as is evidenced in a general way in Fig. 9.

While I have described my invention more particularly in connection with the form of a bridge for the frontal teeth, thesame general benefits will arise in employing these improvedfacings upon a plate to fit the gums and roof'of' the mouth where the said plate is formed of gold as in this case it would only be the building up an extension of the bridge into the grooved arch to fit the jaw, all of which latter is of the ordinary practice and'n'eed not be specifically shown here. In a generalway, however, it would conform to what is illustrated in Fig. 5, if the backing plate 11 of Fig. 4 were present. a

Referring more particularly to Figs. 5 and 6, in connection with the use ofmy improved facings, as for vulcanite plate work,

it will be seen that the pin is formed with the head 7 embedded in the vulcanite of the plate 8. The front or festooning of the plate constituting the labial surface of the gums, shown at 9, is extended over the collars and down upon the side flanged portions 4 thereof, but without the necessity of the red vulcanite extending too far down between the teeth and which would make it objectionably pronounced if it were required to entirely fill the interdental spaces between tapering teeth, such as" shown in 7. Therefore, by the employment of my improvedteeth or facings, the extent to which the gum festooning of the vulcanite may be necessary, is much less than what would otherwise be required were it not for the presence of my improved flange portions 4 as part of theextended collars with tapering and ovoid labial characteristics of teeth.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrict myself to the details, as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars .without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by'Lettefs Patent, is

1. An artificial tooth comprising a body part having a characteristic shape tapering from the biting end toward the neck end and having the neck continued on each side into a broad collar extending downward and providing lateral flanges to the tapered body portions of the tooth and arranged as continuations of the back surfaces and positioned to the rear of the front or relief portion constituting the tapered body.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the lateral and downward flanges and located to the rear of the body relief,

constituting the general configuration of the tooth, and inclining backward to meet the edges of the Hat surfaced back, the collar being arched at the top and having approximately parallel side edges extending from the broadest portion of the tooth body, whereby when a plurality of said teeth are set side by side the interdental spaces between the tapered portions of the body parts of adjacent teeth are closed with the abut ting collar portions.

a. The invention according to claim l, further characterized by having the coloring of the collar of a relatively darker shade than the shade of the relief portion of the tapering tooth form whereby the general characteristic of the tapering tooth shape is maintained notwithstanding the presence of the lateral portions of the collar.

A denture comprising a plurality of frontal teeth each provided with a tapering characteristic outline and having the neck end surrounded with an inverted U shaped collar arranged slightly to the rear of the frontal portion of the tooth body and in which the collar portion provides an extended width of the back surface approximately equal to the total width of the widest portion of the tooth body whereby the interdental spaces between the plurality of teeth are closed by the abutting collar portions, and nietallic plate to which the teeth are attached and whereby the teeth are sup- 1 ported in the month, said plate extending continuously back of the plurality of teeth and shielded from view at the interdenta-l spaces by the abutting collar portions of the teeth.

6. The invention according to claim 5, wherein the plate constitutes a bridge provided at each end with a pin for attachment to two widely separated roots, the upper portion of the bridge being substantially on horizontal alinement with the abutting arched shaped portions of the collars oi. the several teeth.

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto set my hand.

J. LEON WILLIAMS. 

